By Ujëbardha Bekolli
Sustainability is one of the fastest growing fields for career opportunities. With brands implementing sustainability in their practices, there is an increasing number of job openings for sustainability professionals. The PR career path is no different. Especially because brands have been using sustainability for marketing purposes, to attract a larger scale of loyal customers.
But not only that. An increasing level of communications around sustainability is taking place as organizations want to communicate to their stakeholders the improvements, challenges, increases, or reductions, with regards to their business impacts. This has led to an explosion in ‘green claims’.
All in all, the number of sustainability-related jobs has never been so large, and it doesn’t seem to stop growing. Sustainability is the future of our businesses, jobs, lifestyle, and future in general so the sooner we adjust to it the better.
When you incorporate public relations and sustainability, you get a mix of challenging and interesting job positions, perfect for passionate individuals, looking for a career that will push them towards success. These individuals are the ones that push the sustainability cause and communicate the changes and innovations shaping sustainability.
Communications Manager
A communications manager plays a key role in the execution and development of the organization’s sustainability goals concerning environmental, social, and governing issues. This professional is someone that conveys information regarding the sustainable development of the organization, inside and outside.
The job requires sufficient knowledge regarding sustainability processes the company is implementing. It also requires that the individual knows the industry in which the company runs on so they’ll be able to best communicate these practices.
Brand Manager
A brand manager is someone who’s concerned with creating a positive, long-lasting image of a brand. In the sustainability case, the brand manager works to create strategies that will communicate sustainability values. All in all, this is one of the ways businesses use sustainability as competitive advantages for marketing purposes.
The promoting of the brand should always be ethical, communicating only truth and values that reflect reality.
PR & Government Affairs Specialist
A government affairs specialist help their organizations on working with government agencies and citizens in creating policy proposals. They are also usually responsible for a group of staff. Their tasks include doing research, internal and external communications and contact with the media.
Since Government Affair Specialists conduct, monitor, and report legislation, their role in sustainability issues is quite obvious. They oversee and communicate sustainability changes inside the organization on how sustainable practices are ought to be implemented and how they affect the environment and the workplace.
Corporate Communications
Corporate communication professionals deal with external communications incorporates. Their job is to increase brand exposure through media. These individuals partake in different projects inside the corporate and participate in cross-functional activities.
The importance of exposure to sustainability-related issues for corporates has raised the need for professionals with a sustainability background in PR. Communicating to the public their efforts towards more sustainable practices and products has become one of the most important things for a corporate’s life.
The rise of sustainability as a field of its own and the blending of it in existing career opportunities has made a huge difference in how individuals work. Nowadays it is important for people in general, but for millennials specifically that they find meaning in the work they do and that they feel like they can make a difference. More than ever people have reasons to study sustainability, follow sustainability degrees, and start sustainable businesses. Since this field seems to be getting more and more exposure, we can’t help but follow its lead.
Ujëbardha Bekolli is a content writer who works with Switzerland-based SUMAS, a school that trains managers to make responsible decisions with regard to environment and sustainability.